Unkept promises
by ak13
Summary: Jade and Wes have been alone for years. After their mother died, it was up to Jade to protect Wes. When a shadow comes and steals her brother away, suddenly 'protecting' takes on a whole new meaning. Jade finds herself and Wes tangled in an ancient web spun by the devil himself. Will Jade be able to save them? Or will she not even be able to save herself?
1. London

London, 1870

The rain picked up, thundering against the cobble stone as I lifted the hood of my cloak, ducking out of the restaurant, head bowed and feet picking up speed. As I was about to round a corner, I heard the door open from far behind, someone shouting words I only caught part of.

"-Thief! Stop her! Thief!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a police man in blue begin to chase after me, anger clear on his face.

I ran.

Fast.

The police man called after me, but he was already falling behind, "Oi! You there! Stop!"

I dove into a crowd of people, slowing my pace until it matched theirs, becoming all but invisible in the mass of bodies. The cop rounded the corner, not sparing me a second glace as he sprinted down the road, causing me to let out a sigh of relief. I had food. They hadn't caught me. I fingered the necklace in my pocket. I hadn't failed my mother yet. Wes was still safe.

I turned into an alleyway covered in at least three inches of dirt. The buildings had long ago been closed, doors locked and windows boarded. To the untrained eye, the place looked deserted. But I knew better.

I walked until I came across a door, its paint faded and old. The door looked like every other, except for the _J _and _W _carved into the surface, so small you'd miss it. Unless of course you were looking for it.

I rapped my knuckles three times on the door, loud and clear. I paused, waiting for a response. For a moment, there was only silence, but then…

"Jade?" It was whispered softly, muffled by the door so I almost didn't hear it.

"Hurry up and open the door, this food is starting to get heavy!" I called.

"Food?!" A boy with the same blue eyes and brown hair as mine opened the door wide, a hopeful expression lighting his face up, in a way I hadn't seen in awhile. My heart broke as I realized how long it really had been. Mother would never let this happen to Wes. She would have done everything in her power to make sure his life, no, _our_ lives were filled with happiness. Joy. Hope. But me? I got him food once in awhile. I got him hope even less.

I swooped down and picked up Wes, spinning him around and around, making him laugh. How long since I'd heard him laugh? I pushed the thought away.

Placing him down, I slung the pack off my shoulder, then dumped its contents out onto the table, a genuine smile on my face. "Food."

Apples, bread, cheese, you name it, spilled out onto the wood, shining like treasure, and making both our stomachs growl. I picked up the reddest apple I could find, tossing it into the air and catching it before handing it to Wes. He bit into the fruit, juice dribbling down his chin as devoured it.

Jumping onto a chair, I announced, as if speaking to a large crowd instead of one person," Tonight, we dine like kings!" A cheer arose from the imaginary crowd. Wes laughed.

That night we went to bed, are stomachs full and our hearts light. Wes curled into my side on the small bed we shared, a thin blanket tucked around us. He fell asleep in a matter of moments, his soft breathing making me smile. But then a thought made it falter.

The food I got today would keep us happy and full, but for how long? Soon, it would run out, and we would again starve, not knowing when our next meal would be. It was a big game of risk, and I didn't know how long I could keep playing. Keep playing without losing. Without failing.

I kissed Wes's head, and tried my best not to cry.

I woke from a dreamless sleep to find that the room was still dark. And to find Wes wasn't next to me. Or in the bed at all.

I was just about to let out a scream, when I saw him. And the air seemed instead to choke me. He was standing by the window. Holding the hand of a monster with glowing eyes. For a moment, I just sat there, watching, not believing, until Wes's feet were no longer touching the ground.

I jumped out of bed, racing towards Wes as the monster began to lift him into the air.

"Wes!" I cried out, my voice cracking.

His eyes blinked sleepily at me. "Jade?"

"Wes run!" I screamed, running towards him. He only looked at me, as if not quite understanding me. As if my words were coming from somewhere far away.

That only made my panic level raise.

I reached out to grab his leg, to bring him down, but I missed him.

Missed him by inches.

Wes's eyes opened wide in realization, as if waking from a dream.

"Jade!" he screeched, reaching his hand out to me.

"Jade help!" He looked panicked. Scared. And there was nothing I could do.

I reached out.

Again.

But this time he was long gone.

I woke with a start, my heart racing. A dream.

It had all been a dream.

I reached out to brush my hand through Wes's hair.

Wes was not next to me.

_Wes was not next to me. _


	2. Two years Later

I walked through the winding streets, my stomach empty, my hands empty.

My heart empty.

Two years and nothing had changed. I had woken up alone. I had walked the streets alone. I had eaten and cried for two years. Alone. And for two years, without fail, I knocked my knuckles on the door and listened for a response. And every time, without fail, I was met with silence. Just wind blowing through an empty house. Blowing through me.

It hurts just to think his name.

Every syllable pierces my heart. Each letter a scar that'll never heal. And with each passing day, I can feel myself grow more insane.

Insane with the sound of boyish laughter.

With the sound of a necklace rattling around in my pocket.

With the sound of a window opening. A scream cutting the air.

And at night, hauntingly, beautiful music dances through my dreams, sad and soft. Enchanting in a way words could never describe. It's the only time, buried in my dreams, that I can get a moment of peace, a moment of happiness. But, when I wake, it's always gone. Leaving me with the feeling that I'm missing something. Something other than the boy whose face I had all but forgotten.

In a few years it would be like he had never existed at all.

"Wes!" I screamed, sitting straight up in our bed.

My bed.

Two years later and I still wasn't able to break even the simplest of habits. I could feel my chest heaving, my heart pumping, my eyes scanning the room for glowing eyes and dark forms. Monsters and demons. Wes at the window, too far away to save. But, just close enough to hear him cry my name.

Nightmares.

Reality.

They were becoming one big blur, spinning out of control.

Glowing eyes in the corner.

Shadows everywhere.

I closed my eyes.

Blocking it all out.

Hoping that when I opened them, Wes would be there, a smile on his face, blue eyes bright.

Slowly, I opened them.

There was nothing.

Just an empty room, an empty house, an empty life.

My cheeks were wet, long before I realized I was crying

For awhile, I just let the tears drip down my face.

But then I leaned back, and closed my eyes, because time goes by, no matter what I wanted to believe.

Time ticks me farther and farther away from my brother, but there is nothing I can do.

But lie down, and wait.

Wait till I lose even the memory of him.

So I closed my eyes.

Imagined a place where time could stand still.

Where I could be with my brother, forever.

And fell back to sleep to the sound of the music I heard almost every night.

But for some reason, this time, the music seemed clearer.

Stronger.

Closer.

But of course that was nothing more than my imagination running wild.


	3. Dreams

It was just like every other night, the same dream I could never remember in the morning.

I woke to the sound of music.

Without thinking, I pulled on my street clothes; a pair of boys brown trousers, an oversized tunic, and an inky black cloak. My brain felt foggy, my thoughts muffled. All I knew was that I had to find the source of the music. Somehow, I still remembered to slip my dagger into my cloak. Then, hood up, I slipped into the night.

With no idea where I was going, I walked. Each step seemed to be the right one, my feet knowing the way even though my mind didn't. In fact, as I got closer, the music getting louder, my thoughts all together began to fade, replaced by an instinct deep within me. I gave into it without missing a beat.

I began to walk out of town, and into the woods. As I walked, the trees I knew began to disappear, replaced by foreign ones. The air suddenly tasted different, as if there was an ocean nearby. The music was clearer here. It echoed around the trees, giving the allusion that it was coming from every direction.

The music was indescribable. As I got closer, each note was more beautiful, each swell more perfect, and each second had me dying for the next. I had never before felt this light.

Soon, I happened upon a clearing. Orange yellowish light flickered across faces of boys dancing around a huge fire. There was something different about the way they danced. Theirs was a little harsher. A little wilder. A little freer. Unbound by rule. By law.

As if none of the sort existed at all.

Amidst it all was a boy dressed in a patchwork cloak, piercing green eyes looking around.

Until they landed on me.

I was moving closer to the boy before I knew my feet were moving.

The music seemed to grow louder. And suddenly I could feel it.

My worries.

My pain.

The chains that had pulled me down for more years than I could account for.

They all just fell away.

And suddenly I could feel it.

The freedom.

My heart sang it.

_Free._

Soon my smile matched the boy's. The boy put his pipes down but the music only seemed to grow stronger.

Music from my dreams.

From my nightmares.

It no longer mattered.

The boy swiftly took me in his arms, pulling me closer to whisper in my ear.

"Would the lady like to dance?"

I grinned.

"It would by my honor to dance with you, sir."

He pulled me flush with him.

"Call me Peter," he breathed.

"Peter," I breathed back, without hesitation. His smile shone in the firelight. Dazzling. Stunning.

And then we were dance, spinning around and around, music pulling us closer, intertwining a fortress around us. A ballroom for a prince and a princess. We could have been alone. We could have been in a crowd. We could have been on an island, lost in a dark forest.

It didn't matter, as long as he had his eyes locked on mine.

As long as he was here, whispering sweet nothings in my ear.

As long as he was holding me, smiling, spinning me around and around and around, nothing else mattered.

Nothing.

Because, for once, I was truly free.

Our eyes locked, and I found I couldn't pull my gaze away.

"What if I told you Jade," he whispered softly in my ear, "that there was a place you could feel like this forever."

"I'd say take me there," I purred back, not missing a beat.

Peter grinned, and I was even more entranced. For a second, I could think of nothing but his lips on mine.

"What if I told you Jade, you were already there?" Peter said, green eyes dancing.

I closed my eyes, savoring the feeling of freedom. I knew the answer to this. I had wanted to ask it from the moment I had arrived.

"I'd ask if I could stay forever."

That's when I usually woke up, chest heaving, heart pounding, barley able to remember anything that happened the night before, except a vague memory of a boy with green eyes, and the most beautiful music I had ever heard.

But this time, I didn't wake up.

This time, Peter stayed in front of me, the music kept playing, and his eyes never left mine. A triumphant smile spread slowly across his face. The way the firelight lit his face, it almost looked wicked.

"It worked," Peter breathed.

I furrowed my brow. "What work-" I began, trailing off as the music faded, the freedom dissipated, and rational thought took the helm once again. My gaze jumped from to tree to tree, bush to bush, but I recognized none of it. Even the sky was foreign, emptied of every star, a liquid black that seemed to seep into the forest itself. The branches clawed unnaturally at the sky, twisting at impossible angles. I felt a shiver crawl up my spine. I had sudden, terrifying suspicion that I was nowhere close to London at all. That I was a long _long_ way from home.

I turned my eyes to the boy behind me, and the answer lay in his eyes, black as the sky above him.

"Peter…" I spoke slowly, carefully. "Where are we?"

Peter grinned, eyes glinting darkly, dangerously. He spread his hands wide, gesturing to their surroundings. "Why, Neverland of course. Welcome home Jade."


End file.
